This panel discussion will give the audience a broad understanding of the Indian economy in the current global economic climate. An increasingly common view is that now, when ‘traditional’ giants of the world economy seem to be underperforming, the emerging market economies of the likes of India and China are taking the lead in calming the uncertain economic climate. However in the recent past a multitude of problems seem to be surfacing within the Indian economy such as rampant inflation-leading to a fall in growth and the widely criticised policy paralysis. This throws up the question of whether the Indian growth story is still intact and if the economy is strong enough to weather the gloomy global scenario.

The panellists will discuss their businesses in the context of the Indian economy and the growth prospects that they see in these sectors. Furthermore they will share their thoughts on how they are dealing with the internal problems in the Indian economy and their suggestions.

Lord Karan Bilimoria (CBE, DL) is widely respected for his entrepreneurial spirit and is best known as the Founder and Chairman of Cobra Beer. He is one of the first two Visiting Entrepreneurs ever appointed at Cambridge University and serves as National Champion of the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship. In 2004, on its 250th anniversary year, the RSA honoured Karan with its Albert Medal, in recognition of meeting the RSA Manifesto Challenge to Encourage Enterprise.

Ms Madhur Jha is a global economist at HSBC. She joined HSBC London in 2007 as an ABS generalist to cover the EMEA markets. She gained experience in emerging markets economics research as a fixed income/FX strategist at a leading research consultancy in London and at the largest private sector bank in India, where she also worked in FX derivative sales.

Mr Virad Kaul is Territory Head of ZEE TV Network UK and Europe. He was earlier the CEO of ZEE Turner Ltd, the joint venture company between the two media conglomerates – ZEE (ZEE Entertainment Enterprises Limited) and Turner International. Mr Kaul has a track-record of over 25 years of experience in strategic roles spanning telecoms and FMCGs in leading organisations such as Idea Cellular, Gillette and Godfrey Phillips.

Dr Danny Quah is Professor of Economics and Kuwait Professor, LSE. He is a member of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Economic Imbalances; and serves on the Editorial Boards of East Asian Policy, Journal of Economic Growth, and Global Policy, and on the Advisory Board of OMFIF Education.

Mr Rahul Sharma is Co-Founder and Executive Director of Micromax Informatics India. Micromax is the 12th largest handset manufacturer in the world, with one per cent share globally. Micromax, according to a Strategy Analytics report, is now larger than global Japanese handset makers like Sharp and NEC. It has moved ahead of Lenovo and is closing the gap with Sony Ericsson globally.

Dr Tirthankar Roy is Reader, Department of Economic History, LSE. He is an economic historian of modern and early modern South Asia. His research interests include particularly industrialization, labour and employment, global history and historiography. He has published extensively, from globalisation to colonial India and is currently working on 'Standard of living in nineteenth century India'.

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